On Saturday, Christmas Eve was the main day for NFL games to be played. Another upset occurred when the win less Cleveland Browns finally won their first game of the year downing the Chargers as San Diego missed a last second FG. Atlanta traveled to Carolina and pummeled the Panthers who looked clueless and pretty much game up in this game. Terrible and shoddy tackling at best by a Panthers team who gave up on this season weeks ago. The Packers beat down the Vikings to win their 5th game in a row and eliminating the Minnesota from playoff contention. Jacksonville also ended their 8 game losing streak beating the Titans and ending the Titans playoff hopes. In the game, Titans QB Marcus Mariota broke his leg and will have surgery to repair his leg later this week. In what should be Rex Ryan's last home game as coach of the Buffalo Bills, the Bills rallied late only to allow the Dolphins to counter with a long FG to tie the game and then lose the game in OT to Miami. The NY Jets played the Patriots in New England but they forget to play the game as they got throttled. The Jets a huge disappointment this season gave up early in this game. Washington traveled to Chicago and crushed the Bears in a game that saw rookie QB Barkley of the Bears throw 5 interceptions. Oakland keeping pace just one game behind the patriots for best overall record in the AFC beat the Colts but in doing so also lost starting QB Derek Carr for the rest of the season and playoffs with a broken leg. Seattle at home lost a crazy but entertaining game to the Cardinals. The Seahawks could of won the game at the end of regulation but missed the extra point and lost by a FG in OT. In the battle of bad teams in the NFC West, San Francisco snapped a 12 game losing streak by edging out the Rams by a point. It was the 49'ers second win of the season. The Saints beat the Buccaneers in New Orleans thus all but ending the playoff chances of Tampa Bay this season. Houston behind back up QB Tom Savage won another defensive battle but also won the AFC South.
On Sunday, in the biggest game of the weekend matching up the Steelers and Ravens, winner advances to the playoffs as the top team in the AFC North and the loser is eliminated. There were many lead chances but in the end, Big Ben hooked up with WR Antonio Brown and the Steelers won at the end of the game. Pittsburgh seems to be firing on all cylinders late in the season. In the other game on Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs eliminated the Denver Broncos from the playoff picture with an easy win. Both Super Bowl teams from last season have been eliminated from this seasons playoffs. On Monday night, Dallas showed why they are the class of the NFC right now as they rallied for 28 straight points in beating the Detroit Lions. The Lions now will face the Green Bay Packers on New Years Day night at Ford Field in Detroit for a winner takes the Division and a spot in the playoffs this season. Detroit who was missing many key secondary people were burned often by the Cowboys receivers.
Also some NFL players, most notably Seattle's Richard Sherman criticized the NFL for playing games on Thursday nights for teams who played the previous Sunday are saying it is too hard for Players to be ready for a game on only 3 days of rest. I respect the players and their speaking out on issues but the NFL and its players have been playing Thursday night games for a long time now. The game played during the week brings in extra revenue to both the teams and the players via more salary cap money. If the players are ok with a lower salary cap and lower salaries and the Owners are ok with making less money, the hey I am all for it. Also here is another thought when scheduling teams for Thursday night games, see if it is possible to schedule the teams to play on a Sunday, then play on a Thursday night 11 days later and then play their next game 11 days after that on the following Sunday. Or even, give teams an extra bye week during the season so that all teams have 2 bye weeks during the season instead of just one. Not sure they could do it with the schedules but maybe they could work it out. The NFL also needs to address their domestic violence policy better and work with the NFLPA to take all the loopholes out of it and make the penalty for violating this policy a very strict suspension. Officiating is looking even worse then ever as pick plays, pass interference on the offense and defense continues not to be called and late hits and roughing the passes depends more on who the player is, then was the play an actual penalty or not? Ratings are also low due to the parity in the game and as they do every year they select the teams before the season for the Thursday night and Sunday night games. Cooper went 12-4 in his week 16 picks and is 179-59-2 for the season We will continue to post His record for each weekend and season total. twitter; @cupofjoeinthed email; cupofjoeinthed@gmail.com
Wishing Everyone a Happy New Years and a Joyous Holiday Season.
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| Cooper after making his Week 17 NFL Power Rankings |
WEEK 16
NFL Team Power Rankings
1. Patriots
2. Cowboys
3. Steelers
4. Chiefs
5. Falcons
6. Seahawks
7. NY Giants
8. Packers
9. Dolphins
10. Raiders
11. Lions
12. Texans
13. Buccaneers
14. Redskins
15. Ravens
16. Titans
17. Saints
18. Broncos
19. Colts
20. Bills
21. Cardinals
22. Panthers
23. Eagles
24. Vikings
25. Bengals
26. Chargers
27. Bears
28. Jaguars
29. NY Jets
30. LA Rams
31. 49'ers
32. Browns
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